This was certainly a surprise from any other kind of mountaineering I have ever done. I give the standard route 5 stars just because of how interesting the terrain was. I would recommend this place to a friend.

Golden Canyon is definitely one of the neatest places on earth and Manly Beacon is an awe-inspiring sight. This is the only peak I have climbed that has a negative starting elevation. The day after climbing Mount Whitney we came to Golden Canyon with only an hour left of daylight. Josh Lewis and I ran up and down a number of narrow ridges in a geological maze until we found the right way to access the beacon. Talk about knife-edge dirt! We barely made it out before dark. Very exciting terrain!

It had been eleven years and was nigh time for another visit to this neat little summit. Just as much fun as before, and a good place to reminisce since this was my first summit in the West. I hope to go up with my son in April 2011.

My brother Chris and I hiked up here twice; it was my introduction to the Great Golden West. Easy hike, a little steep and loose near the summit, but the most memorable part (both times) was being dive-bombed by birds that must have been nesting up there.

Ascended the Beacon with hyperboliticians after following Gower Gulch up to Zabriskie Point. The purchase was quite loose as the soil condition is quite powdery. The views of the Badlands, the Red Cathedral, and Death Valley below were spectacular. The variation in colors is remarkable!

"As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls."
--M. Cartmill